He was equally upbeat about the chance of working out an extension for wide receiver Calvin Johnson, whose rookie contract expires after the 2012 season.

But he also offered this cautionary note: “There are only so many eggs in the basket.”

In other words, not every free agent is going to get what he’s looking for, so most likely not every free agent will be re-signed unless some agree to take less than they might get elsewhere. That’s the nature of the business in a salary-cap world.